BRONX, N.Y. — Army’s blueprint for winning its first nine games this season was pretty simple: run the football, stop the opponent from running the football and squeeze the life out of the opponent and the game clock.
Notre Dame showed the Black Knights in New York City’s Yankee Stadium on Saturday night that it could do all that better without needing to dominate time of possession. The CFP No. 6 Irish rolled to a 49-14 victory over No. 19 Army on the shoulders of an explosive running game and stout run defense.
Notre Dame (10-1) outrushed Army (9-1) by 66 yards on half the number of carries. Notre Dame averaged 9.4 yards per carry with 278 yards on 29 rushes. Army needed 58 carries to reach 207 yards for an average of 3.6 per rush.
A 39:49-20:11 advantage in time of possession for Army made no difference at all as Notre Dame jumped out to a 14-0 lead and scored touchdowns on four of its first five possessions. Notre Dame didn’t have to stray from what its been most of the season to stack up the point against the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense (10.3 points allowed per game) and No. 3 rushing defense (82.6 yards allowed per game) entering the weekend.
“We’ve gotta be able to run the ball, so we had to find ways to run the ball versus a really good rushing defense,” said Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. “But also take what they were giving us in the pass game. We did a good job.
“It’s not like we have a secret. We were able to run the ball efficiently versus a really good run defense. We didn’t beat Notre Dame. We were efficient in the pass game and didn’t turn the ball over.”
SUBSCRIBE TO INSIDE ND SPORTS TO STAY IN THE KNOW ON NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS
Related Content
► Notre Dame, Freeman take another momentous step toward defining history
► Notre Dame football vs. USC will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET next Saturday
► Transcript: Marcus Freeman's postgame press conference after win over Army
► Game balls go to the guys in the trenches for Notre Dame in Army win
Notre Dame used its passing game to build its 14-0 lead after two possessions. Quarterback Riley Leonard connected with wide receiver Jordan Faison for a 28-yard touchdown to complete a five-play, 68-yard drive on Notre Dame’s first possession. Then a blocked punt put the Irish offense near the goal line to start its second series. Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love caught a short pass from Leonard and hurdled an Army defender on his way into the end zone for a six-yard score.
Leonard, who Army kept in check as a runner with just 30 yards on eight carries, only had to play a complementary role the rest of the game. He finished 10-of-13 passing for 148 yards and two touchdowns. The opening touchdown to Faison proved to be his longest completion of the game.
Army quarterback Bryson Daily finally got Army’s offense rolling on its third possession, but with the aid of Notre Dame defensive penalties. The Black Knights took advantage of three penalties on a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by a four-yard run from Daily.
“The thing that hurts you is the one touchdown drive in the first half you have three penalties. Nobody’s happy about that,” Freeman said. “That’s a reminder that: Don’t beat Notre Dame. That drive there’s three penalties that led to seven points that we gotta make sure we eliminate.”
The only time Notre Dame seemingly felt game pressure came later in the second quarter. Army stuff Notre Dame’s offense on the goal line for a turnover on downs. But Notre Dame’s defense responded by forcing Army into its third three-and-out of the game.
“We didn’t really change anything,” said safety Adon Shuler, who led the Irish with a career-high eight tackles. “We knew that we weren’t really set on that [previous] drive. We were a little startled. So, we just had to kind of calm the nerves down and get back to playing our football.”
Rather than air it out, Notre Dame’s offense turned to its running game to take over from there. Love reignited the Irish with a 21-yard carry to start the drive. Love needed just two more carries, the second of 14 yards, to return to the end zone.
With the touchdown Love tied Wayne Bullock’s school record for consecutive games with a rushing touchdown. Bullock’s 11-game stretch came across the 1973-74 seasons. Love became the first in program history to start a season with rushing touchdowns in 11 consecutive games.
Love and his fellow Irish running backs took the game over from there. Junior Jadarian Price scored on a two-yard run with 26 seconds left in the first half. Love sprinted for a 68-yard score on the first play from scrimmage in the second half.
Price added a 10-yard touchdown run later in the third quarter. Then freshman Aneyas Williams recorded the longest touchdown of his young career with a 58-yard run in the fourth quarter.
Love, who scored three times in a game for the first time in his college career, pointed to his long touchdown run as his personal highlight of the day. With left guard Billy Schrauth and left tackle Anthonie Knapp creating a lane for Love to go through, the 6-foot, 210-pound speedster didn’t get touchdown on his way to the end zone.
“Man, that play was beautiful,” Love said. “The O-line executed perfectly. The receivers did their job as well, and that’s team glory right there. Everybody doing their job and executing the right way, man, you get plays like that to happen. And we’re all feeding off of each other.”
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO INSIDE ND SPORTS ON YOUTUBE
Love fell seven yards short of the career high he set the week prior against Virginia. But the 130 yards on the ground Love gained against Army came on just seven carries. Love seems to be peaking at the right time of the season for Notre Dame.
“He’s a confident football player,” Freeman said. “The thing I love about Jeremiyah Love is he’s protecting the football and not causing turnovers. It’s almost like he’s anticipating what the defense is gonna do. When he breaks through the second level, I haven’t seen many people that can catch him. He’s practicing well, he’s taking care of his body and producing on game days.”
Williams finished second in rushing yardage Saturday with 62 yards on three carries. Price picked up 53 yards on 10 carries. The five rushing touchdowns for Notre Dame’s running backs were the latest testament to Notre Dame’s offensive line.
Since Schrauth returned to the starting lineup for the Navy game, the offensive line has been able to use the same starting five for four consecutive games. This may have been that group’s best showing yet.
“I’m so proud of where that group has come from,” Freeman said. “You look at from the start of fall camp and who we had starting to now where we’re at, the different starting lineups and the production and the elevation and improvement that offensive line group has done.
“The running backs will get all the credit. The ball carriers get the credit because of the yards, but those things don’t happen without a great offensive line working together in unison. They’re really doing a good job. Coach [Joe] Rudolph is doing a good job of getting those guys playing physical but also playing together.”
Notre Dame’s defense needed a collective effort to keep Daily and the Army rushing attack in check as well. Because Army kept Daily in the game to the end, he was able to fight his way to 139 yards on 39 carries with a pair of touchdowns. But Notre Dame became the first team to hold him to less than four yards per carry all season. Only two other teams — North Texas (4.3) and Lehigh (4.6) — limited Daily to fewer than five yards per carry.
“We knew we had to stop him,” Freeman said. “That was the main priority. He is the person that makes that offense go. He’s a tough, downhill, gritty football player. But we had to match that type of mentality.
“We wanted to attack their offensive line, we wanted to attack him and put more people where they were trying to run than they could block. That was something we saw in game planning that we wanted to do and try to attack. The defense did a really good job at doing that.”
After beating Army at its own game, Notre Dame has one more opportunity to impress the College Football Playoff committee next Saturday at USC (6-5). A convincing win could boost Notre Dame’s playoff seeding even more.
“This is a team that’s hungry,” Freeman said. “There’s a lot more. We got more. We didn’t play perfectly, and we strive for perfection.
“Do we ever play perfect? No. But that’s what we’re going to strive for. That’s what we’re chasing as an entire football program.”
---------------------------------------------------------------
• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.
• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND and @TJamesND.
• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports
• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports
